Flight Catches Fire During Emergency Landing at Harry Reid Airport
A Frontier Airline flight carrying 190 passengers appeared to burst into flames as it made a heart-stopping landing at Harry Reid International Airport on October 5th. The flight left San Diego at about 1:30 pm, but before beginning landing at 3:30 local time, the pilot reported smoke in the cabin.
Plane Catches Fire on Landing. ? Jan Rosolino, Unsplash
Plane Fire in Las Vegas Quickly Extinguished
Given emergency landing precedence, the flight suffered what the airline euphemistically called a hard landing. That appeared to entail the rear wheels of the plane exploding and the bottom of the aircraft being briefly engulfed in flame.
Once the plane rolled to a stop, Harry Reid International Airport’s highly trained firefighters quickly put out the flames and evacuated all of the passengers and seven crew members safely. The NTSB and Frontier said they are investigating the reason for the fire but had no comment at this time.
All US airports are required to host drills and train for just this type of eventuality and must complete this training at least every three years to keep their operating license. In this case, Las Vegas fire fighting teams, emergency responders and even public safety officers had completed this training less than a month before this latest emergency.
On September 12th, the airport used two planes, smoke, and even pyrotechnics, as well as volunteers acting as injured passengers to complete their required drills, which would lead to a well-coordinated rescue effort in the real world just a few weeks later.
Harry Reid International continues to set new passenger records year after year, playing host to more than 57.6 million visitors, up more than 5 million just from the year earlier. While the airport has kept an admirable safety record, it does lead the nation with delayed flights, almost 30,000 of them in 2023.
A Separate Frontier Flight did suffer a tail strike upon landing in December 2021, which caused significant damage to the aircraft but no injuries.
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